Boiled peanut bag on SC flag?

Many state flags were designed decades ago, back when “modern branding” meant a seal, some Latin, a stern-looking eagle, and absolutely no concern for how the whole thing would look on a hoodie.

And while those old designs may carry plenty of historical weight, they do not always feel like the symbols people would choose to represent their state today. Modern state identity is complicated, and often far more revealing. A state is not just its official motto or founding date. It is also its food obsessions, housing realities, local stereotypes, lifestyle habits, weekend rituals, traffic quirks, and the things residents joke about because they know, deep down, they are probably true.

Custom Made Casino surveyed 3,014 respondents, asking them to imagine what their state flag should look like if it were redesigned for the modern era. The results suggest that if states were starting from scratch today, quite a few might skip the traditional shield-and-banner approach and go straight for more modern markers.

“State flags are one of the oldest forms of place branding. They are meant to tell people what a state stands for, what it values, and how it wants to be recognized,” says Adam Marks, founder of Custom Made Casino. “What this survey shows is that people think about state identity in a much more modern, everyday way. They did not necessarily reach for grand historic symbols. They picked the foods, frustrations, habits, stereotypes, and local details that feel instantly recognizable now. That kind of instant recognition is exactly what strong branding is meant to achieve.”

South Carolinians’ top three choices for an updated state flag that best represents the modern Palmetto State were as follows:

1. A boiled peanut bag
A boiled peanut bag brings a roadside snack energy to the state flag. Soft, salty and mildly confusing to the uninitiated, it is a very local kind of comfort food: the sort of thing people either grew up loving or discover at a gas station and spend the next 10 miles trying to understand.

2. A Pimento Cheese Tub
A plastic tub of pimento cheese would give South Carolina a symbol with serious local flavor and absolute culinary confidence. Known affectionately as the caviar of the South, this spreadable mixture of cheddar, mayo, and sweet peppers is treated less like a casual party dip and more like a mandatory core food group. Placed on the flag, it stands for a proud local population that believes an ordinary cracker, sandwich, or burger can be completely transformed with a thick, savory layer of regional tradition.

3. Sweet tea to-go cup
A sweet tea to-go cup gives South Carolina a symbol that is simple, Southern and dangerously easy to underestimate. It is hospitality with a straw, summer heat management and a reminder that in some places, “tea” does not require clarification — it comes cold, sweet and large.

Across the rest of the country, other top choices included:

Colorado’s modern flag makeover came in the form of a craft IPA can, giving the state a symbol with plenty of local flavor. The state’s brewery culture has become part of its modern identity, turning post-hike drinks, taproom opinions, and very specific hop preferences into something close to a civic language.

Floridians, perhaps unsurprisingly, landed on an HOA golf cart, which may be the state’s most honest modern flag symbol. It captures planned communities, retirement neighborhoods, sunny cul-de-sacs, and the strange authority of someone driving 12 mph while enforcing mailbox rules. It is lifestyle, transport, and local government energy in one tiny vehicle.

Hawaii’s alternative flag symbol was the poke bowl, a modern food symbol with genuine local roots and national reach. It has traveled far beyond Hawaii, but on the islands it still feels like a clean, colorful shorthand for freshness, place, and the kind of lunch that makes a sad desk salad look personally embarrassed.

For Illinois, respondents brought a little civic sting to the flag with the parking ticket. It speaks to city life, street cleaning, expired meters, and the very specific rage of returning to your car two minutes too late. Few symbols say “modern urban experience” with such expensive efficiency.

New Yorkers, it appears, took the opportunity to voice their frustrations with home prices. Their modern flag symbol was a $3,000 studio floor plan, which may be the most New York document imaginable. It promises “charm,” “efficiency,” and “natural light,” while quietly asking whether a bed, desk, and oven can all share one support wall. It is housing pressure turned into graphic design.

Pennsylvanians kept things cinematic, choosing Rocky atop the steps as their alternative state symbol. It is dramatic, familiar, and gloriously overcommitted, capturing grit, ambition, and the eternal appeal of running up a large staircase simply to prove a point. As state images go, it is hard to beat: instantly recognizable, oddly motivational, and still somehow capable of making tourists believe they, too, should sprint to the top.

Tennessee’s modern flag candidate came with wheels, music, and questionable group coordination: the pedal tavern. It is party tourism in motion, matching outfits, public singing, and the bold assumption that what a city street really needs is twelve people pedaling toward another round.

Texas, naturally, went big with a suburban mega truck: a symbol with height, chrome, and absolutely no interest in fitting neatly into a parking space. It is part utility vehicle, part lifestyle statement, and part rolling reminder that in Texas, even the school run can arrive with tow capacity.

Washingtonians opted for the Amazon delivery van, capturing modern convenience at industrial scale. It speaks to Seattle’s tech economy, doorstep logistics, and the strange new normal of ordering something at midnight and acting surprised when it appears before lunch.

View all the flags suggested by survey respondents online.